⚽ Premier League 2026/2027 Discussion Thread ⚽

[Ndabagi01]

Rumors surrounding Rashford’s departure from Manchester United will continue until the transfer window closes. This is because Manchester United previously stated that they wanted to sell or loan out Rashford again. Rashford’s future at Manchester United remains unclear; I believe this is due to past issues that have made Manchester United less eager to keep him at the club. However, based on the rumors circulating, I don’t see any club that’s truly serious about signing Rashford, either permanently or on loan. Consequently, Rashford will likely have no choice but to stay at Manchester United until his contract expires. That said, there’s no guarantee he’ll get enough playing time under Carrick.

One of the reasons clubs are running away from signing him is the high wage that is on him, he needs to consider reducing his wage so that he gets offer from teams that are interested in him. Manchester United are showing already that they are a complete team and they won’t have any problem in the next season without Rashford, so he’s not even going to be having any hope that he’ll be included in the squad. I just know that if he remains in the club, he’ll get a chance to play even though it is going to be for few games within the season.

Micheal Carrick is already having a good time in the club, and anything that would disrupt his plan to not excel next season won’t be tolerated. People say that Rashford is do full of himself and if he doesn’t lower his ego, he’ll just waste his remaining time with the club without getting to participate actively in the club. He has a choice now and I hope he’s going to do the right thing at the right time.

[Abbatty]

Man United vs Atletico Madrid 2-1. I didn’t expect Man United to win, but I saw this match as an amazing progress for Man United. How Carrick changed Man United’s playing style and was able to make Atletico defend and counter-attack. The passes and player movements made Man United’s play flow like water. Next in a friendly match, Man United will face PSG on August 8. PSG seems to be a different test, Man United might have a lot of difficulties facing PSG. Although this is just a friendly match, this situation can be a key lesson to prepare for the upcoming EPL competition. Maybe PSG will win by a one-goal margin. 1-0 or 2-1. Carrick should dare to make a lot of changes since this is just a trial.

Well it was a good one from Manchester United, especially the second half, they really played well, and for a sec I almost forgot it was a friendly game because of the intensity of the game. One thing I like about Carrick Manchester United is that it gives me that vibes of Fergies Manchester United, they play on a quick counter attack. Atletico madrid really did well in the first half and I thought they were going to win the game.

They will be playing PSG just like you said, it really going to be a difficult and interesting game. Well it a friendly game but no team will want to lose that game. I still give PSG Favour to win the game. I really hope Manchester United brings in at least a top quality midfield this summer.

[Joca97]

Two Premier League teams faced off in the Sydney Super Cup final. Chelsea and Tottenham struggled to get the better of each other right up until the final minute, and Tottenham managed to win the cup by defeating their opponent with a last-minute goal from Richarlison. The first half ended 1-1 with goals from Sandro Tonali and Estevao. Early in the second half, Kevin Danso, who had just entered the game, received a red card, leaving his team down to 10 men. Chelsea failed to capitalize on their opponent’s numerical disadvantage and left the final with a loss.

Well this is more of a friendly and this cups honestly dont have any weight so teams are just testing their players and not going all out. Tottenham always wins this useless trophies where they play only one or two matches. Was expecting more from Chelsea especially when they had a player more but it still shows that they arent on that level. Still a lot to go until premier league starts

[DYOR+BTC]

Two Premier League teams faced off in the Sydney Super Cup final. Chelsea and Tottenham struggled to get the better of each other right up until the final minute, and Tottenham managed to win the cup by defeating their opponent with a last-minute goal from Richarlison. The first half ended 1-1 with goals from Sandro Tonali and Estevao. Early in the second half, Kevin Danso, who had just entered the game, received a red card, leaving his team down to 10 men. Chelsea failed to capitalize on their opponent’s numerical disadvantage and left the final with a loss.

Both teams had an excellent performance in that game but among all I won't stop congratulating Tottenham for there unimaginable performance on that game. Tottenham suffered heavily last season without hope of getting back on track but now see how terrifying and possessive there team is after escaping relegation.
If only Tottenham could maintain such momentum as they did in that game, they will definitely do better this coming season. Although football is something that can not be predicted at the early stage of of games because anything is very much possible in the game of football.

[SOKO-DEKE]

Man United vs Atletico Madrid 2-1. I didn’t expect Man United to win, but I saw this match as an amazing progress for Man United. How Carrick changed Man United’s playing style and was able to make Atletico defend and counter-attack. The passes and player movements made Man United’s play flow like water. Next in a friendly match, Man United will face PSG on August 8. PSG seems to be a different test, Man United might have a lot of difficulties facing PSG. Although this is just a friendly match, this situation can be a key lesson to prepare for the upcoming EPL competition. Maybe PSG will win by a one-goal margin. 1-0 or 2-1. Carrick should dare to make a lot of changes since this is just a trial.

the play against Atletico Madrid was an unexpected one, i mean after seeing what Atletico Madrid did to Barcelona in the champions league. i was expecting Atletico Madrid to either win the game or draw but after the first half win by Atletico, Manchester united step up and the first goal  was a free, easy and sweet penalty kick by Bryan Mbuemo and he still manage to score the second goal. this player has really made a lots of impacts, positive ones to be precise in manchester united i hope he continue.

The case of Barcelona against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League was different. This match was just a friendly match, and it is possible that Atletico Madrid did not take the match seriously. This is not something that we have to be surprised about. Any team can win a match in preseason.didn't we even see what happened in Manchester United's first preseason match against Wrexham, which is a very weak team, and Manchester United lost to them? By the way, with how Manchester United ended last season with great performances, we still have reason to believe that they are in good form.However, currently, I am not yet convinced by any team's performance because the season has not started yet. Manchester United's preseason was not bad last season, but they later found it difficult when the season started. It wasn't until Carrick took over that they became better. Preseason matches are just warm-up games, and most teams do not take them very seriously

[Abdulzuruku01]

I get your point cleared, because the way teams have equipped to themselves it shows that there is going to be a lot of competition, Manchester United have that advantage but I want you to understand one thing, they will be occupy this season compared last season. They'll be playing the Champions League this time around, which we all know that it is not a small competition but with this strength of them, I'm very sure they can do more.

There will be a lot of competition in the Premier League which is not something to argue about, because all the teams have stand up and they will only be fighting for one trophy. The defending champion will like to go again while others would like to push them away. There's going to be a very big fight in this coming season.

Every season premier league is always competitive because it has a lot of top teams than other leagues. All these teams challenge each other strongly, that's why it's always difficult to predict the team that will come out top in the premier league. And I agree with your points, Manchester United will face more challenges this coming season than the previous one, because they will play another big tournament   which is champions league. There they will play another top teams from different leagues so definitely this will make things tougher for them. I believe Manchester United will have great impact in the premier league, and possibly they might be the champion but for champions League I doubt it.

[Umulala-alala]

Man United vs Atletico Madrid 2-1. I didn’t expect Man United to win, but I saw this match as an amazing progress for Man United. How Carrick changed Man United’s playing style and was able to make Atletico defend and counter-attack. The passes and player movements made Man United’s play flow like water. Next in a friendly match, Man United will face PSG on August 8. PSG seems to be a different test, Man United might have a lot of difficulties facing PSG. Although this is just a friendly match, this situation can be a key lesson to prepare for the upcoming EPL competition. Maybe PSG will win by a one-goal margin. 1-0 or 2-1. Carrick should dare to make a lot of changes since this is just a trial.

the play against Atletico Madrid was an unexpected one, i mean after seeing what Atletico Madrid did to Barcelona in the champions league. i was expecting Atletico Madrid to either win the game or draw but after the first half win by Atletico, Manchester united step up and the first goal  was a free, easy and sweet penalty kick by Bryan Mbuemo and he still manage to score the second goal. this player has really made a lots of impacts, positive ones to be precise in manchester united i hope he continue.

The case of Barcelona against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League was different. This match was just a friendly match, and it is possible that Atletico Madrid did not take the match seriously. This is not something that we have to be surprised about. Any team can win a match in preseason.didn't we even see what happened in Manchester United's first preseason match against Wrexham, which is a very weak team, and Manchester United lost to them? By the way, with how Manchester United ended last season with great performances, we still have reason to believe that they are in good form.However, currently, I am not yet convinced by any team's performance because the season has not started yet. Manchester United's preseason was not bad last season, but they later found it difficult when the season started. It wasn't until Carrick took over that they became better. Preseason matches are just warm-up games, and most teams do not take them very seriously

You are right i don't use preseason matches to conclude if a team will perform well or not because i just see it as a friendly matches it's not what most take seriously. Even this pre season Man united won ATM and was awarded a title and this is not yardstick to even conclude that ATM won't do well this season because Man united won them while Man united will perform well because they won ATM no it's when the season begins like after 6 to 7 matches that we can conclude teams that will do well and the ones that may likely struggle.

[KingsDen]

Well this is more of a friendly and this cups honestly dont have any weight so teams are just testing their players and not going all out. Tottenham always wins this useless trophies where they play only one or two matches. Was expecting more from Chelsea especially when they had a player more but it still shows that they arent on that level. Still a lot to go until premier league starts

You are right, It's just a friendly and it doesn't really matter alot. But I noticed how Tottenham played, they were very aggressive and agile compared to last season, I think they will also be a threat next season. 

Honestly you can't judge a team overall performance from a friendly, that's why I won't say much about Chelsea, though I expected them to win the game easily, but I turns out that Tottenham has improved. I won't just jump into conclusion that Chelsea will play like this all season long. Let's see what happens when the season begins, but I think this Tottenham team will be strong next season

[Miles2006]

Two Premier League teams faced off in the Sydney Super Cup final. Chelsea and Tottenham struggled to get the better of each other right up until the final minute, and Tottenham managed to win the cup by defeating their opponent with a last-minute goal from Richarlison. The first half ended 1-1 with goals from Sandro Tonali and Estevao. Early in the second half, Kevin Danso, who had just entered the game, received a red card, leaving his team down to 10 men. Chelsea failed to capitalize on their opponent’s numerical disadvantage and left the final with a loss.

Well this is more of a friendly and this cups honestly dont have any weight so teams are just testing their players and not going all out. Tottenham always wins this useless trophies where they play only one or two matches. Was expecting more from Chelsea especially when they had a player more but it still shows that they arent on that level. Still a lot to go until premier league starts

Times like this are important I mean friendly play at first afterwards the season match starts, times like this we usually know what club will lead when the season starts because it’s obviously a football match despite the friendly tag, club bring out their best to play against the standing opponent.
I was surprised Chelsea couldn’t defeat Tottenham, the worst part is they couldn’t play a winning match even having the upper hand against Tottenham and we call this a friendly match, quite funny how we all thought Chelsea will do better this season yet, they’re finding it difficult to win a friendly match.

[Tonimez]

Two Premier League teams faced off in the Sydney Super Cup final. Chelsea and Tottenham struggled to get the better of each other right up until the final minute, and Tottenham managed to win the cup by defeating their opponent with a last-minute goal from Richarlison. The first half ended 1-1 with goals from Sandro Tonali and Estevao. Early in the second half, Kevin Danso, who had just entered the game, received a red card, leaving his team down to 10 men. Chelsea failed to capitalize on their opponent’s numerical disadvantage and left the final with a loss.

Well this is more of a friendly and this cups honestly dont have any weight so teams are just testing their players and not going all out. Tottenham always wins this useless trophies where they play only one or two matches. Was expecting more from Chelsea especially when they had a player more but it still shows that they arent on that level. Still a lot to go until premier league starts

Times like this are important I mean friendly play at first afterwards the season match starts, times like this we usually know what club will lead when the season starts because it’s obviously a football match despite the friendly tag, club bring out their best to play against the standing opponent.
I was surprised Chelsea couldn’t defeat Tottenham, the worst part is they couldn’t play a winning match even having the upper hand against Tottenham and we call this a friendly match, quite funny how we all thought Chelsea will do better this season yet, they’re finding it difficult to win a friendly match.

There's nothing friendly about the game and Chelsea lost the game and nothing more. I don't know why some fans are making it appear like Xabi Alonso and his team would have chosen to loose over winning. This shows how vulnerable the Chelsea team could be in the premier League in the coming season. If they can not win a 10 man Tottenham Hotspur, then how will they challenge an 11 man Arsenal, Manchester city, Manchester United and the many giants of the premier League.

If teams like Manchester United had lost their game, the media won't admit that it was a friendly game so there should be no defence. Xabi Alonso has a lot of work to do especially to bring back their confidence against the season. Tottenham Hotspur made me proud today by beating Chelsea even after playing with red card from the 49th minutes. This does not speak well about the coach ability to handle Chelsea team but it may be said that it is still too early to judge so let's wait until the season starts.

[slapper]

The fact that a suppose pretty mid team could spend such amount for a player shows how competitive tge EPL can be and this is why we cam see that they have been dominating Europe in recent seasons. .

One classic thing about the EPL and which has really uphold it's high competitiveness of the league is how all the teams focused on equipping more their squad than just selling. It's not what like what it's obtained in some other leagues in Europe where some of the teams are rather selling out their keys players and making the transfer market window as an opportunity to increase their treasury than equipping it stronger for the next season. This has being the difference and secret to why the EPL has continued remain competitive and also dominate in all European leagues competitions.

Since Arsene Wenger was still in charge, Arsenal has always sold its star players to improve the club's financial balance, after which they return to buy talented young players to develop them into star players, a cycle like this occurs almost every season, which is why Arsenal has difficulty competing with other teams in the hunt for the EPL trophy. Now that Arteta has taken over, that habit is no longer inherent in Arsenal, they will work hard to retain star players and try to bring in other star players to maintain the opportunity to achieve the desired target.

The reason the EPL is more competitive compared to other leagues is because it has more than 4 elite teams, each team is always required to perform optimally to be able to compete for first place. Now that Arsenal has reached the highest level, the title race is getting tougher for teams like Man United, Chelsea, and Liverpool. They have complete squad depth, and a solid defense is one of the reasons Arsenal were so difficult to beat last season.
Currently only Man City can give Arsenal a tough competition, but if they succeed in bringing in Vinicius, the chance of retaining the EPL trophy is very big, maybe they will also reach the UCL final again and win the trophy.

OK so Vinícius. 22 goals and 14 assists last year, showed up at the World Cup too. The guy is elite. But the real issue with Arsenal this season was not that they were not scoring. They could not break teams down when sides parked the bus. They would be able to dominate possession and create nothing against a low block. Vinicius puts that right with his run-on-the-people. Creates panic.

My concern is that last season Arsenal's main players were all toasted. Rice, Saliba, Gabriel, Zubimendi, they all played a ridiculous amount of minutes. Like extreme unhealthy work loads. And Odegaard was injured so much that him and Saka barely started together, maybe ten league games? They have won the title essentially running in the same 11 guys into the ground. That is not sustainable? Of course, it is good to add Vinícius to the mix for depth, but it also makes for extra games, Champions League knockouts. These guys are not robots.

City actually outscored Arsenal last season. They lost the title because their defence fell apart, not because their attack was not good enough. Haaland scored 27 goals. And City beat Arsenal in both their direct meetings, including that cup final.

[Byebyebtc]

One of the reasons clubs are running away from signing him is the high wage that is on him, he needs to consider reducing his wage so that he gets offer from teams that are interested in him. Manchester United are showing already that they are a complete team and they won’t have any problem in the next season without Rashford, so he’s not even going to be having any hope that he’ll be included in the squad. I just know that if he remains in the club, he’ll get a chance to play even though it is going to be for few games within the season.

Micheal Carrick is already having a good time in the club, and anything that would disrupt his plan to not excel next season won’t be tolerated. People say that Rashford is do full of himself and if he doesn’t lower his ego, he’ll just waste his remaining time with the club without getting to participate actively in the club. He has a choice now and I hope he’s going to do the right thing at the right time.

Rashford is actually a good player, and I do feel he deserves to be tested by Michael carrick, I honestly do not see rashford like a player who can spoil the game plan of a coach, he deserves a chance to play and fit in, in the Manchester united squad.
But on the other hand I do agree with you that his wage is too high, many clubs in primer league might want him but bringing him in might disrupt their financial structure.
So at this point the only options is to either reduce he wages or stay at Manchester united hoping to fit in well into the team, it's sad that he can't go back to his home with free mind

[Rgram]

You are right, It's just a friendly and it doesn't really matter alot. But I noticed how Tottenham played, they were very aggressive and agile compared to last season, I think they will also be a threat next season. 

Honestly you can't judge a team overall performance from a friendly, that's why I won't say much about Chelsea, though I expected them to win the game easily, but I turns out that Tottenham has improved. I won't just jump into conclusion that Chelsea will play like this all season long. Let's see what happens when the season begins, but I think this Tottenham team will be strong next season

Judging a team’s performance from the friendlies would be a flaw because, at times you would find certain teams having yo play themselves. While one team would feature most of their elite players, the other team would use the time to test out their bench and soon to be promoted academy players. The friendlies are always games to use in warming up and keeping fit, very far from a serious league where every game and points counts.

[MarjorieZimmermanGinger]

Judging a team’s performance from the friendlies would be a flaw because, at times you would find certain teams having yo play themselves. While one team would feature most of their elite players, the other team would use the time to test out their bench and soon to be promoted academy players. The friendlies are always games to use in warming up and keeping fit, very far from a serious league where every game and points counts.

Pre-season matches aren't a benchmark for a team's overall strength, but we can get a glimpse after watching pre-season matches. As you said, some teams will test their reserves and players who will be promoted to the first team so they can be incorporated into the coach's strategic plans. I watch pre-season matches simply as a warm-up and to help a coach determine the appropriate strategy for facing competition.

Some teams that have played pre-season matches sometimes experience results beyond expectations, and that shouldn't be a benchmark for assessing the team's overall strength. The real test is how the competition unfolds and how the team can maximize its overall strengths. That's where the coach's ability to maximize the players they have comes into play.

[The Founding Titan]

In as much as a lot of people don’t rate pre season I feel they do have impact on how a team will be in that season.

Most teams don’t make use of their main sqaud whenever they are playing pre season matches, and coaches are always trying new strategies which they might not want to risk when the season start, so pre season matches gives opportunity for coaches to try something new, that’s why I just feel pre season matches don’t have any impact on how a team will be when the season start. I team might perform poorly in preseason matches, and when the season starts, things will change.

As for gambling on pre season, i do see it as a risk, because you never gan tell what lineup will be coming up, a team might end up filling the lineup with Academy players.

I don’t always find it fun to gamble on pre season matches, because I know that the lineup is always players which I don’t even know, so placing bets on matches like that isn’t always interesting to me.

And there is even no way to even know if they are going to be playing their best to win so it's hard to predict the outcome of such a match, I prefer to just avoid them completely rather than gamble on something I have no way of even being able to predict, I just watch the games and to see how those players will perform against eachother but beyond that I am not eager to gamble with them, it just doesn't work that way for me.

[Oluwa-btc]

You are right, It's just a friendly and it doesn't really matter alot. But I noticed how Tottenham played, they were very aggressive and agile compared to last season, I think they will also be a threat next season. 

Honestly you can't judge a team overall performance from a friendly, that's why I won't say much about Chelsea, though I expected them to win the game easily, but I turns out that Tottenham has improved. I won't just jump into conclusion that Chelsea will play like this all season long. Let's see what happens when the season begins, but I think this Tottenham team will be strong next season

More like an aggressively organised team who knows what they're doing every single time they moved forward. Ever since De Zerbi was appointed last season, I had this deep thought they'd be transformed if they get to avoid relegation.

I believe you can because this is where you show fans a tip of how you want to execute your game plans. Lol, Tottenham played under this manager for more than three games already, I knew the least they'd get out of that game should be nothing but a draw but they aimed highly and went for the win eventually. Xabi Alonso has improved them gradually you could see from how Chelsea defenders performed and how they pass the ball forward. Maybe both teams make it back to top 6 positions.

[Umulala-alala]

One of the reasons clubs are running away from signing him is the high wage that is on him, he needs to consider reducing his wage so that he gets offer from teams that are interested in him. Manchester United are showing already that they are a complete team and they won’t have any problem in the next season without Rashford, so he’s not even going to be having any hope that he’ll be included in the squad. I just know that if he remains in the club, he’ll get a chance to play even though it is going to be for few games within the season.

Micheal Carrick is already having a good time in the club, and anything that would disrupt his plan to not excel next season won’t be tolerated. People say that Rashford is do full of himself and if he doesn’t lower his ego, he’ll just waste his remaining time with the club without getting to participate actively in the club. He has a choice now and I hope he’s going to do the right thing at the right time.

Rashford is actually a good player, and I do feel he deserves to be tested by Michael carrick, I honestly do not see rashford like a player who can spoil the game plan of a coach, he deserves a chance to play and fit in, in the Manchester united squad.
But on the other hand I do agree with you that his wage is too high, many clubs in primer league might want him but bringing him in might disrupt their financial structure.
So at this point the only options is to either reduce he wages or stay at Manchester united hoping to fit in well into the team, it's sad that he can't go back to his home with free mind

Carrick is the head coach i think he knows what he is doing it's not wrong for him to test Rashford everybody knows that Rashford was one of Man united best player in sometime past i do call him a goal machine he has win games for Man united before in some important matches but carrick won't want to make some changes in the team now since he already had players that help me qualify Man united to the champions league maybe with time Rashford can be starting games this is time for him to work on him self.

[X-ray]

I noticed how Tottenham played, they were very aggressive and agile compared to last season, I think they will also be a threat next season. 

The stats showed opposite result if Chelsea much more aggressive in term of attack, but yeah they're terrible in finishing and defense. However, i still think their lose to the Tottenham is an embarrassing result. They should not lose to the relegation zone club last season when they have better team on paper.

I'm not calling Tottenham is bad, but losing to Tottenham is unacceptable when they have signed high tier manager, and rebuild their club slowly.

Beside that this friendly still matter. I think it's still right to judge a team based on its friendly result. If they're still losing after they signed some big boys. So there has to be a wrong thing in the squad. It gives a clue to their manager and management to make further improvement and fix their problems.

I hope does something before the start of new season.

[Sarah Azhari]

Man United vs Atletico Madrid 2-1. I didn’t expect Man United to win, but I saw this match as an amazing progress for Man United. How Carrick changed Man United’s playing style and was able to make Atletico defend and counter-attack. The passes and player movements made Man United’s play flow like water.

From what I observed in this match, it seems there’s a bright outlook that Manchester United will be a serious contender for the Premier League title this season. I think the tactics and style of play implemented by Carrick in this preseason match were truly excellent, even better than last season. The chemistry among the players on the field was beautiful and seamless. I hope this style of play, especially once all the key players are back on the team, can be maintained or even improved so that Manchester United can get off to a perfect start to the season.

[KTChampions]

-snip

1.71 - 4.20 - 4.10

Liverpool won the previous two friendlies, I would bet on this trend to continue.

Their winning streak doesn't come as a surprise. I remember Andoni Iraola previously saying he was confident about Liverpool's chances. Now he's probably doing everything he can to prove his tactical ability by keeping Liverpool on a winning run. It almost feels like he's trying to justify those earlier comments, as if he's worried Liverpool fans would criticize him if he couldn't even deliver wins in preseason matches.

BTW, those odds look tempting. I should add them to my bet slip.

Damn Liverpool! 
Before the game, their odds dropped to 2, but I thought that was even better and ended up betting on Liverpool to win + Total Over 2.5 with odds of 2.64. After the first half, I was extremely pleased because Liverpool was leading 2-0, and it would have been very strange if the second half had ended goalless. Who knew that the second half would end 0-4 for Liverpool and my bet would be lost.
Well, tomorrow I will definitely bet on Real, I have inside information